Next time you bump into Youth Emergency Services & Shelter of Iowa (YESS) Executive Director Steve Quirk, ask him about the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute (GDMLI) project that his nonprofit was a part of. The project was one of five selected from more than 20 applications submitted to GDMLI this year. A team of 10 2016 GDMLI class members worked to solve a challenge that YESS has retaining its direct-care employees. The challenge isn’t unique to YESS, which provides a safety net of services designed to care for kids and families when they need it most, but rather it’s one that afflicts nonprofit groups all over the country that operate in such high stress environments, Quirk said. The GDMLI team created a retention and onboarding plan they dubbed “YESS University.” Quirk’s hope? Make the program portable to other nonprofits that have staff and volunteers who work in high-stress environments.